Many people at nonprofits and foundations have responded quickly since the 2016 presidential election to real and perceived threats to our democratic principles of justice, equality, fairness, and decency. Yet much more is needed to counter efforts that undermine the institutional norms of democracy and roll back essential governmental protections.
The stakes are very high for the nonprofit world. Most nonprofits deal with some form of inequality, injustice, or basic unfairness in America: providing services to people in need, advancing civil and human rights, promoting environmental protections, nurturing the arts, and other efforts that help build a vital civil society and enhance tolerance, openness, creativity, and opportunity. We strongly believe nonprofit values and missions are now in jeopardy. President Trump may be the progenitor of today’s threats or simply the catalyst that has unleashed years of frustrations that many Americans now voice. Either way, the problems are real and foundations need to respond.
Yes, foundation leaders face increasing demands to spend money on causes threatened by the six-month-old administration, but dedicating resources to strengthen democracy is essential to their missions.
Whether or not you applaud President Trump’s vow to “drain the swamp,” there is a deep-seated distrust of our government and the politicians who do not seem to listen to Main Street America. In many ways, we are witnessing a populist wave of pent-up frustration. We have a president who understands that people want change, that they want the system shaken up in a way that will force government to listen to them. But Mr. Trump’s actions have been directly contrary to “draining the swamp.”
His own conflicts of interest (and those of his family) are issues of his own making, by virtue of not divesting his business interests. He calls for transparency but won’t disclose his own tax returns. He has shut down the website showing who is visiting the White House so we can’t keep an eye on the swamp. He criticizes leaks but has the loosest lips of any president, as evidenced by his talking openly about national secrets with Russian leaders.
Misplaced Priorities and Policies
In this and legions of other ways, the Trump presidency threatens our notion of a well-oiled democracy. His decisions seem viscerally determined, not intellectually reasoned. “Alternative facts” dominate, and an independent media is the “enemy of the American people.” The president takes criticism personally — whether or not it was intended that way — and responds by attacking judges, civil servants, and public leaders.
Possibly the only predictable and consistent pattern of this administration is its unpredictability and inconsistency. President Trump was for the House health-care bill before he thought it was “mean”; he was for a cybersecurity agreement with Russia before he wasn’t; there were White House tapes of conversations with former FBI director James Comey before there weren’t any.
Americans, particularly young people, treat presidents as role models. Sadly, Mr. Trump has become the bully-in-chief, and his unbecoming behavior is being copied by our children and even other politicians.
The combination of these factors can have catastrophic implications, as in the case of the election-integrity commission. It started with Mr. Trump’s “alternative fact” that millions of votes were cast fraudulently in the election and has escalated into a search for fraud that no expert believes exists. At best, it is seeding distrust in our election system, and at worst it is an attempt to suppress votes.
Misplaced priorities lead to misplaced policies. In the case of the election commission, real issues go unattended — ensuring that everyone eligible to vote is able to do so, or making our voting machines and election systems safe from cyberattacks by foreign enemies and others.
A key question for the nonprofit world is how to talk about these concerns without appearing politically partisan. But if nonpartisan nonprofits won’t speak up, who will? Unfortunately, silence is no longer acceptable.
Note that we have not even mentioned the official investigations into whether the president has violated the rule of law. Nor have we raised our disagreements with Mr. Trump’s policy positions — deregulation to help big business, reduced services for people in need, and even greater tax cuts that will increase income inequality.
In other words, these democracy issues extend beyond partisan politics. They are about American values.
Giving to Single Causes
The challenge for philanthropy is how to respond. Many nonprofits and grant makers have stepped up their game. In recent months, gifts from individuals to nonprofits that work on democracy issues have soared. Some foundations have also poured in new money to curb hate speech, protect a free press, improve the election process, address redistricting, and support greater government oversight to promote accountability.
Yet others argue not enough is being done, that there is a need for foundations to “reorient their giving.” We agree, but we also believe grant makers — usually prone to stick to the status quo — have begun a remarkable job of responding to the changes over the past few months.
The core problem is that foundations mostly give money to specific causes such as the arts or health or the environment, as opposed to cross-cutting themes such as strengthening our democracy. The Foundation Center reports that 1.5 percent of U.S. foundations’ grant funding was spent on democracy issues in 2014. Let’s round it up to 2 percent, since there may have been some coding errors.
But even 2 percent of foundation giving is far too low to protect the essential fabric of our way of life. There needs to be a concerted campaign to at least double this figure — call it “4 percent for democracy.” This includes work designed to help nonprofits develop policy ideas, organize their constituents to advocate for and protect democratic practices, monitor government, and build sound ways to connect democracy-strengthening organizations.
Every foundation — local, state, regional, national — has a stake. Whether grant makers support the arts, human services, the environment, or other important causes, each of those hinges on a society that has civility, inclusivity, openness, and accountability — as well as effective government programs and protections. As these break down, democracy withers.
Gary Bass is executive director of the Bauman Foundation and an affiliated professor at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. Mark Rosenman is a professor emeritus at Union Institute & University.